Being Alone
by Lulu.cat13
Summary: Alone. That's what Tanner is. Alone. She doesn't know how true that is until she finds her love once again. Glenn/OC
1. Chapter 1

**Ok. This idea has been bouncing around in my head for the longest time. I was going to put it in Just Hold On, but then I figured that it would be better for everyone involved that it be a two-shot. **

**I've never seen a Glenn story like this and I've rarely seen Glenn/Oc stories, so this is the product of both of those needs of the Walking Dead fandom. Just like my Rick/Oc story, this was bred from necessity. **

**Do not freak out. I'm still writing Just Hold On! I'm in love with that story, but sometimes you just gotta refresh with something else for a while. Like I said this is a two-shot so there is going to be a second part. Don't worry when you get to the end and see that the only character from the show that really appears is Merle! Glenn will be here soon! :) **

**I really hope you guys like it and enjoy yourselves thoroughly!**

**Love you guys!**

**Lulu~**

* * *

My short, dark hair poked my eyes, causing me to jerk my head to the side to relieve the sting. The back of my hair was touching my neck, so I knew that a rough, painful haircut with a dull knife was in my near future. I picked up another log of wood and let out a loud curse feeling a large splinter dig its way into my skin. I heard a gruff chuckle behind me that was followed by a heavy slap to my shoulder.

"Break a nail there, Tanner-ina?"

I cut my eyes over to the bulky man and looked down at my injured finger. His eyes apparently followed mine, because he seized my hand and brought it up to his face. The skin around the intruder was red and swelling in anger.

"Just a splinter, Merle." I grunted as I jerked my hand away and peered at the painful spot. Merle grabbed my block of wood and tucked it under his arm. Which I imagine was hard to do, being one-handed and all.

"Ya don't pick up the pace, I'll toss ya out to the dead." With that he sauntered off to the large concrete building the gang called safety.

Merle was our leader. He was the guy who called the meanest, craziest guys around together and took charge. But, I'm not mean or crazy… I'm not even a guy. I'm just a girl who was in the right place at the right time. When Merle found me, I was scavenging for supplies, which he wanted. I had a run in earlier that day with some infected that grabbed my hair as I fought to get away so I had to cut it short. I figured that increased my chances of survival by a little bit. Anyway, I had a good pile going when Merle and his crew came up on me.

"Hey, boy." I remember him yelling, "You share that food, we'll keep you alive."

And they did. Since I don't really have any breasts to speak of, I just tied them down and went on my merry way. I just did the odd jobs, like gathering wood, washing dishes, cleaning up after the disgusting men. I did those things before the apocalypse working at a bed and breakfast, so I really didn't mind. All I had to do was grunt and complain about doing "woman's work" and the guys wouldn't get suspicious about how good I was at my job. Plus, no one showers any more so I was pretty much in the clear there.

I bet you're wondering why a defenseless twenty-two year old girl would agree to join the most dangerous band of criminals around. Well, in this world, only the strong survive. Literally. The dead rose and now the only people that are alive are the ones that banded together and have fire power. So, here I am. Before this whole deal, I was just a college student in Atlanta. Not only that, but I was an engaged college student. My fiancé was my best friend, now, it seems, I'm all alone.

_My stomach brushed against the black comforter of the bed as I lay down to watch him play his newest video game on the Xbox. I didn't know what it was, it looked remarkably like Call of Duty, but they all look alike to me. He shouted profanities into a headset while jamming buttons on the controller. _

"_Who's the noob shooting his own teammates?!" his voice rose with anger. I rolled my eyes, pulling my Reasoning in Death textbook closer to me. My Psychology exam was just a few days away and he was distracting me to no end. I highlighted a few lines before I heard the yelling on the television stop causing me to look up at my fiancé. _

"_You're so distracting, Tanner! Seeing you study reminds me I have an exam on Tuesday that I'm not studying for!" He pulled his headset off and frowned down at me, "Why don't you goof off or something?" _

_I twitched my mouth to the side for a second before smiling wickedly at him. "Goof off?" My arms wrapped around his waist while my mouth assaulted his neck. I felt his body loosen at my touch, urging me on. So, I obliged. My lips and tongue made themselves busy with his ear. "This goofy enough for you?" I whispered seductively. His head bobbed up and down agreeing. My fingers teased their way down his shirt and to the top button of his pants. I could feel his breath hitch in excitement and his pants bulge a bit. Working my way down to his zipper, I breathed out, "What about this?" A grunt forced its way out of his throat. With one last nip to the neck, I grabbed my Psychology book and leapt from the bed. "Good luck with your game!" I heard him yell my name as I closed his bedroom door._

_About an hour later, a disgruntled man shuffled out of the door into the small living room of the apartment._

"_Get everything… worked out?" I giggled from the small adjacent kitchen. He answered the question with an angry look. "Hungry?" I picked up a plated and plopped a BLT sandwich on it before taking it over to him sitting on the couch. I planted myself on the couch, pulling my foot up under me. _

"_Bite?" a few crumbs fell out of his mouth as he offered up his meal. I reached my hand up to steady the sandwich only for it to be grabbed and brought to his eye level. "That ring looks so good on you." _

_My brown eyes grazed over the small diamond ring. It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen and I'd been wearing it for about three months now. The silver band shone brightly as the diamond sparkled in the light. Even though it wasn't the biggest diamond ever, it was something he had bought all on his own and that meant more to me than any dollar amount._

"_I'm in love with it." I whispered while nuzzling my head into the crook of his neck._

"_More than you're in love with me?" He picked up my hand once more and examined the piece of jewelry. I hummed a bit, thinking about my answer._

"_Hmmm… Yea."_

_After dinner, we sat on the couch, watching the end of the last Harry Potter movie. I was clutching the blanket, squealing into it, while he rolled his eyes at my behavior. _

"_You're pathetic." He nodded. A fake hurt expression came across my face as I turned my head to face him. I gripped the blanket tightly and covered his head with it, jumping on top of him. I wasn't worried about suffocating him; the blanket was so loosely woven. Brushing my lips against the blanket, I kissed him. I felt his lips return the gesture… along with his tongue. My tongue pushed against the blanket feeling the rough string. After a few seconds, I pulled the blanket off of his head and grinned at him._

"_I think that's the weirdest thing we've ever done."_

_In one motion, he pushed me off of him and stood up bringing me with him. _

"_Come on," he said pulling me toward his bedroom, "I'm sure the internet's got some more weird stuff we can do." I slumped away from him, whining._

"_I would love to but I've got work in the morning and class in the afternoon and I'm tired and I still have to study some more…" _

"_Tanner." A whine escaped from his throat, matching the pitch of my whine. My legs went completely limp allowing my butt to fall to the floor so that he was dragging me. He pulled against my arm, leaning back so much that he too succumbed to the floor's gravity. _

_Pushing myself up, my legs locked in a standing position. He looked up at me from the floor, pouting. His eyes followed me around the room as I gathered my things and made my way to the door._

"_I love you, Tanner." He called after me. I turned and smiled at the man I loved sitting on the floor pouting like a child. His black hair ruffled, his clothes mussed, his arms stretched out toward me. I brought my hand up to my lips and blew him a kiss._

"_I love you too, Glenn."_

* * *

Memories played in my mind over and over again as I walked back to the house we had claimed. What if I'd stayed with him that night? Would we still be together? Will I ever see him again?

My back ached from the constant bending over I had done that day. Moving firewood was one of my regular jobs, but I still hadn't gotten used to it. I groaned in appreciation of my twin mattress as I allowed my body to fully relax on it. My roommate, Joseph, was on a hunting trip, giving me the room to myself. I pulled my backpack close to me, unzipping the biggest pocket. My hand reached down inside, feeling for another zipper. Unzipping the pocket in the bottom of the bag, I fingered a small object out of it. Very carefully, I unwrapped the cloth that surrounded it. My little silver ring fell off of the cloth onto my chest. The tiny inscription on the inside of the ring still looked new.

_I will always love you_

I held the ring to my cheek, trying to feel any iota of his warmth he left with it, but all it offered up was cold metal. A dull thump down the hallway caused me to jump, dropping the ring from my bed.

"Shit." I cursed as a soft ding rang through the air. I scrambled form my bed trying to spy my ring before whoever it was could come in and see it. Before I knew it, Joseph was standing in the doorway laughing loudly about something.

"Tanner! Man you shoulda been there! Garret almost shit his pants when we- hey, what's that?" His rough voice softened a bit. That's what I loved about Joseph. He may have been a six foot tall and built like the linebacker for Georgia Tech, but he knew that some things were things that shouldn't be broadcast. Joseph was older than the other men, about the same age as Merle, and it showed. Before this, he had told me, he was a grandfather. He had two granddaughters and a grandson. I never asked him what happened to them. Like I said, some things shouldn't be broadcast.

"Oh, um," I opened my hand to reveal the shining piece of metal. "It's um, look, Joseph-"

Before I could explain anything, Joseph raised his hand to stop me. "You don't have to talk about your young lady if you don't want to. It must be rough having that as a reminder."

He crossed the room and dropped to his bed. Kicking his heavy boots off, he looked back over to me. "Can I see it?"

I nodded once, scooting across my bed closer to him. I slid my hand into his releasing the precious item. He twirled it around with his fingers, as if he was memorizing it. "I bought my Rachel a ring like this." His words were strangled in his throat. He told me once, briefly, about Rachel, but we had to drop the subject quickly. My chest tightened. Tears pricked at my eyes causing me to turn my head sharply away from him.

I heard him clear his throat and felt the ring drop back into my hand. "You, ah, need a haircut, boy."

* * *

Dinner came soon after my half hour pain festival called a haircut. Once again, I had to stomach the culinary styles of an escaped convict. Not that I'm not thankful, but greasy deer and squirrel meat is not what I'd call the most delicious thing in the world. It was a good thing Joseph was there to distract me from what I was actually doing. Apparently something he was saying was so hilarious that he and other men around him were pounding the table in roaring laughter.

"And so we all hide and a after we let him shake in his boots, you shoulda heard him! 'Guys! Guys! Where are you?'" Everyone around me burst into laughter. "Then we, then we made crunching noises with the leaves and groaned like walkers. He nearly crapped himself when we jumped out from behind the trees!"

I turned my attention to the splinter I acquired earlier at the wood pile. Prodding at the wood, I grunted in pain over and over again. It reminded me of the time I cut my finger open making wedding invitations. My heart stopped thinking about the small dark green cards with a silver and a lighter green ribbon framing the edges.

_You are invited to the wedding ceremony of_

_Glenn Rhee and Tanner Spurlock_

I shook my head trying to get the haunting image out of my mind. Why was I thinking about him so much today? Oh, yea, that's right, because I do every day.

Night time was a strange time in our little camp. Some men had to stay up and stand guard, but the rest of us slept through the night. I listened to Joseph's snoring, trying to get it to soothe me to sleep. Being so used to hearing it, I think I would be a raving insomniac without it. I pulled the blanket I had over my body and snuggled up to the bare mattress. My eyes grew heavy and my limbs began to grow numb. Suddenly I felt something that made my eyes pop open in both surprise and terror. A pain, you know, down there. I bolted up, throwing the cover off of me.

"Shit, shit, shit. This can't be happening again." I whispered frantically, resulting in Joseph stirring a bit. My hand flew to my mouth waiting for Joseph to fall back into his REM sleep. I reached into my bag slowly and quietly, pulling out a small blue square.

My feet touched the cold floor and padded quietly as I snuck down the hallway to the bathroom. I locked the door behind me, not wanting to be interrupted. There was a small creak as I lifted the toilet lid. The men didn't often use the bathroom inside, so it was pretty clean. As I pulled down my pants and sat down, my eyes examined my underwear. Sure enough, small spots of blood littered the grey material. I unwrapped my pad and applied it. Having a period was probably the hardest thing about being a woman pretending to be a man. Getting the pads wasn't the tricky part. I made runs to town all the time, so I could just take some from the drug store. It was the week that I had to cover up the smell of blood and find time to change pads. I used pads instead of tampons because you can use a pad longer than a tampon without getting sick from it.

The absolute worst thing about it was the men noticed. They didn't come right out and say it, but they would sniff the air, disgusting as that sounds, whenever I walked by. They hadn't been with a woman in a long time, so I guess they thought it was their minds playing tricks on them.

When I was done in the bathroom, I tucked the paper from the pad into the waist of my pants and made my way back to my room. As I opened my door, I spotted Joseph sitting up on his bed.

"You ok, Tanner?" He rubbed his eyes exhaustedly.

"Yea, I'm fine." I yawned, scratching my stomach. He looked up at me and narrowed his eyes.

"What's that?" He pointed at my pants. My blood froze in my body as I looked down to see what he was pointing at. The little blue corner of the pad wrapper was sticking up, touching my stomach and completely exposed as I pulled my shirt up as I scratched.

"Oh, um." My own foot tripped me as I took a defensive step backward. My butt fell back to the bed and my feet flew out in front of me, kicking my backpack over and spilling a few of the contents some of which were pads. Joseph hopped to his feet ready to help me, but he stopped and stooped to look at the objects. His hand clutched one of them as he examined it. As he unwrapped it, his eyes widened in realization.

"Why do you have these?"

I stared at my mattress, not wanting to see the expression on his face. I couldn't move. The only thing I could say was, "Please don't tell."

* * *

It had been a few days and Joseph was getting anxious about my condition. He agreed to keep it a secret, but his anxiety level was rising with every passing day. One night, after dinner, he told Merle that we would take guard duty and let two of the regulars take the night off.

"Go ahead." Merle grunted. "Wastin' yer own time."

We grabbed two guns out of the closet and waited for everyone to go to sleep.

"What the hell are we doing?" I asked as we stood outside on the porch. He turned his head, ignoring my question and whistled to the guards on the other side of the big house.

"We're taking the woods, boys!" My head snapped toward Joseph. The surprised look on my face turned to concern. What was he doing?

In the pair were a plump older man and a lanky man around his thirties. The older man gave a thumbs up while the lanky man just shrugged. Being in a group of about fifteen or so men, fifteen or so _lonely_ men, whenever someone said they were 'taking the woods', then they were actually going to… you know… Joseph didn't seem like the kind of man who would take advantage of a woman, but then again, I didn't look like the kind of boy who was actually a woman. Joseph's strong hand enfolded around my arm and jerked me toward the wooded area. He must have noticed my slight struggle—and so did the other men, causing them to laugh loudly at me—so he loosened his grip and shot me a calming look.

When we began our journey, it was only a few hours after sunset. We hiked for hours, only stopping once for a brief rest before continuing again.

"Joseph, where are we going?" I huffed. I wasn't used to all this fast paced hiking. He didn't stop, but looked back at me.

"Do you want to know something, Tanner?"

I gave a quick nod, running my hand over my short hair. Sweat was collecting between the strands. Joseph's footsteps stopped causing me to bump into him unexpectedly.

"Tanner, you remind me of my daughter. Strong, daring, and stupid as all gittout. I can't lose you like I did them. About two miles north is a barbed wire fence. I found it a few weeks ago. There's a house on the other side of the fence, you'll have to go for a mile but it's there I promise. People live there, I know they do. Women, children." Joseph's hand ran over my head and down to my cheek. He looked as though he would cry any moment, but it never came. I could only nod.

"Wait!" I gasped. "My bag! I can't leave without it." My ring flashed in my mind. There was no way I was parting with it. That was the last piece of Glenn I had. The very last piece. Joseph's hand went into his pocket and felt around a bit before pulling out the small object. He took my small hand in his and slid the silver band on my finger.

"Good luck, Tanner."

* * *

**I hope you liked it! Let me know how it was in a review or a message or whatever! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Ok so, I know thatI said it was only a two-shot, but hey, it's my story and I can do what I want with it. I hope you have fun reading this. I've started losing my zeal to write, but as Mark Twain said, "I hate to write, but I love that I have written." **

**Enjoy and review!**

**Love ya'll!**

**Lulu~**

* * *

My shoes were new from a town run I did. The town we were camped next to was a small one, but they had a shoe store on the outskirts of it. No one ever questioned why I wore women's tennis shoes, but, to be perfectly honest, most of the men were so stupid that they couldn't tell their butt from a hole in the ground. The only thing I could think of while I walked the two and some odd miles to the barbed wire fence was that I was so thankful that my shoes were new. Maybe it was that eerie silence or the constant fear that walkers would be on me any second that made my mind try and create something to think about.

"Oh, home. Let me come home. Home is where ever I'm with you." I sang quietly as I marched forward. My hands gripped my gun tightly causing them to sweat profusely. I had to take turns switching the gun from hand to hand as I wiped them off on my dirty jeans. Tree trunks seemed to go on for miles. It looked like it was around 10:00 am when I reached the fence.

That fence ran miles in opposite directions. Breath hitched in my throat as I gazed upon it. I'd never hopped a fence before, especially one that I could accidentally tangle myself in and it cut and rip every single inch of my body… oh God. The thought made me drop my hands to my knees and take several deep breaths. Glenn had made me watch this movie where someone draped a mat over an electrical barbed wire fence, but I was no Rambo and didn't have a mat or something substantial to climb over. I decided to follow the fence around to find the gate. That meant more walking.

I crunched the dry grass underneath my feet as I skirted the fence. The heat was beating down on me, making me curse the baggy shirt I had to wear. My stomach started to rumble deeply. Joseph hadn't let me grab my back pack or anything so I didn't have any deer jerky to eat, plus the fence seemed that it was never-ending.

Letting your guard down is something you never want to let happen when the earth is full of mutant freaks that go from death to life two hours. And I was about to learn that. Right….. now.

_Crunch_

Every muscle in my body tensed at once. My blood turned to ice immediately and pumped twice as hard. I'd been walking around for… um… a long time. I hadn't seen a walker at all. I guess there's a first time for everything. I whipped my body around to see a grey, dried out, veiny skinned face baring its teeth at me. A scream escaped my throat and my finger slipped onto the trigger, misfiring my double barrel shot gun. My struggle made the zombie gnash its teeth more violently, hunger in its groan. Suddenly I had forgotten how to kill one of these things. I pushed it away from me and ran.

My feet pounded against the ground, as I tried to shake the walker. It was like a nightmare. My worst nightmare come alive… or undead. Running didn't carry me very far. I was so hungry and fatigued that after a few minutes, I had to stop or I would faint. I could hear the panting and growling of the walker a few steps behind me. My eyes fixed on the long stick-like thing in my hand. I grabbed the metal part and swung the wooden part as hard as I could, nailing the dead fucker right in the forehead. Looking at the aftermath, I could see that his skull had crumbled in where I'd hit him. I was so proud of myself. I looked down at the thing in my hands and smiled.

"Oh yea," I cocked my head to the side, "It's a gun."

I'm not really that big of an idiot, but I'd never shot a walker before, only bashed their brains in. When I was hiding in that shed, I had an ax I carried around when I did store runs. I never even shot one in camp, it wasn't my job.

* * *

My heart skipped a beat when I finally caught sight of the dirty metal gate. I brushed my fingers over it, feeling the cold steel of safety. My mind clouded with thoughts of what kind of people could be just on the other side. Other women? Maybe even children? A breath hitched in my chest as the thought dashed across my mind. Hastily, I pulled at the bolt lock, freeing it from the small hole it that kept the gate closed, and once on the other side, I pushed it back into its prison. I took a few steps before catching view of a man stalking toward me in a hurry. As he drew near, I was taken aback by how quickly he was advancing. I gripped my weapon, readying myself for anything. He had gotten close enough for me to see that he was tanned and built. His brown shirt and dark green pants looked dirty from neglect. A scowl was plastered on his face.

"You the idiot that fired that shot?" He growled as he stopped in front of me, looking down at me. I couldn't do anything but stand with my mouth open, trying to form words. My heart had dropped. I was crushed at the thought of wondering back into the same place I'd just escaped from. Narrowing his eyes, he grabbed my upper arm and jerked my entire body forward. My gun had somehow found its way into the man's powerful hand. Oh yea, it's a gun.

He dragged me through a few layers of barbed wire fences, increasing his walking speed with every layer. We approached a house with tents camped out in front of it. People were seated around a fire pit, but rose when we neared it.

"Rick!" The man barked, looking at a camper that was parked beside the tented area. As if on cue, a small group flooded out of the RV. The man I could only assume was Rick stalked over to the man I had grown so attached to. "Found the source of the gun shot. He was comin' through the gate when I got him." He threw my gun on the ground in front of Rick. Rick rubbed his face with his hand before staring down at the ground.

"What's your name?" his voice was gruff and sexy. I didn't even try to deny it, the man was sexy. I would have noticed it more if I wasn't so scared of being killed.

"It's Tanner."

The two men's faces changed to surprise when my voice left my throat. Even though I'd had to gruff it up so the men weren't suspicious of me, it was still soft enough to make a difference. The man let go of my arm and stared at me.

"So you're a-"

"Girl. Yea," I meshed my fingers together and shifted on my feet. "I'm a girl." A heavy silence blanketed the group. Rick walked over to the man that dragged me to the camp.

"Shane, we can't just send her back out there." His low voice was just loud enough for me to hear. Shane breathed in quickly through his nose and cocked his head to the side.

"We need another mouth to feed? She has a gun."

Rick raised his face to meet Shane's. The look in his eyes screamed that he didn't want to send a girl alone into the wilderness filled with maneaters.. er.. woman eaters. "Did she even fight back when you grabbed her? I didn't hear another gun shot."

Shane's head dropped as he let out a loud sigh. I jumped slightly as their heads snapped toward me. Everyone in the camp was now looking at me. _Shit this is bad…_

* * *

The warm water wrapped itself around my body as I sank down into the white glass tub. A slight brown color had introduced itself to the water while the dirt from my body loosened and drifted away into the warmth. I closed my eyes, trying to picture Glenn's face. My mind tricked my body into believing that I was lying in our large California King bed with Glenn's arms and the thick comforter wrapped around us.

"_I will always love you, Tanner…"_

_Knock knock._

The memory faded away slowly as the door opened to reveal a woman standing in the frame. Her hair was very short, even shorter than mine. She had a very slender body that connected to thin arms and wispy hands that clutched something. She stepped into the room, closing the door gently behind her.

"I brought you some clothes."

I sat up a bit, not caring about my naked appearance. I was so excited to see someone of my own sex that I could have hugged her right on the spot, but that probably could have been a bit weird.

"Thank you… Um…" I looked up at her, prompting her to give me her name.

"Oh, it's Carol." She walked over to the toilet and sat the pants and shirt on top of the towel that had already made temporary residence there. I leaned up, grabbing the shampoo bottle, but as I lifted my arms, a dull pain shot through me, causing a grunt to escape my throat. My muscles were extremely exhausted from walking and fighting through branches all night and half the day.

"Do you need help?" Carol reached for the bottle, unscrewing the top and squeezing a small amount of the contents into her hand. I smiled up at her, grateful for the concern. Carol reminded me of my own mother. Her free hand cupped some water in the bathtub and sprinkled it over my head. Closing my eyes, I exhaled and pulled my knees to my chest. There was silence in the small room besides the occasional splash and trickle of water and Carol's sad humming. It must have looked strange, a full grown woman being bathed by another grown woman as if she was a mother soothing a small child, but right then, it was what I needed to survive. Visions of what had happened to me over the past several months flashed before my eyes. My mother's birthday, making love to Glenn for the last time, barricading myself in that tiny shed, sharing my life with Joseph, being beat up by a man who thought I took his cigarettes. I could hear the teeth crunching around me. I could feel the claws rip at me.

"Tanner?"

Carol's soft voice pushed through all of the noise in my mind. She wrapped her arms around my wet, shaking body and pulled my head to her chest. The only thing I could do was sob as she shh'ed me and stroked my hair. Her sad song broke and I could feel the breath in her chest hitch. Soon the only sound in the room was weeping.

When the water had turned cold and our tears mixed with the bath, Carol picked up me up from the tub. I dried myself with the towel before quickly dressing. Carol leaned against the counter and stared at the door as I did. She turned to greet my eyes when I placed my hand on her shoulder.

"Thanks for the clothes."

She just nodded.

* * *

The fire in the middle of the small campsite that rested in front of the huge white house with the bathtub was small as not to attract any wandering eyes. A soft crackle accompanied the glow that emanated from the small blaze. Night had fallen about an hour ago. I sat on a piece of a log, warming my hands and listening to my grumbling stomach.

"Beans?"

The man that I had come to know as Dale stood behind me, plate in hand. I turned and smiled gratefully at him.

"You're my hero." I took the small plate and fork, digging into the bland mix of beans. My eyes followed him as he plopped down onto the log beside me. By the look on his face, I must have looked like someone who hadn't eaten in days. When my plate was empty, he took it from me and scooped some beans out of the pot on the fire onto it and handed it back to my awaiting hands.

"So where did you come from?" He sat the gun that was slung around his shoulder onto the ground and leaned his elbow on his knee. Feeling a little nauseous from eating so fast, I swallowed deeply and took a deep breath.

"I was at this camp. It wasn't ideal. I uh, pretended to be a man, er, boy, so that I wouldn't be messed with." A confused look grew on his face. "Oh, um, the camp was completely filled with men. Bad men. They even looked bad. There was this one guy that was missing an eye, Oh, and our leader was even missing a hand. Ya know, he wasn't very tall, but he talked like he could pick you up by your neck and rip your spine out. Anyway, I'd been there for a few months when Joseph, that was my roommate, found out and led me here."

An awkward silence fell over us. Dale looked as though he was still trying to comprehend what was just thrown at him. Something about him reminded me of Joseph. Not the physique of course, but in the spirit. I held out the empty plate with the fork lying on top.

"Thank you, Dale." I smiled as he took the plate and stood, slinging his gun over his shoulder once more. Suddenly he stopped and looked over toward the fence. I turned my head to see what he was staring at and heard soft thumping. Standing, I turned my head toward Dale to see a look of relief on his face.

"Thank goodness. It's about time they got back." He muttered to himself while walking toward the house. I sat back on my log and watched the fence, waiting on whoever Dale was so glad to see. In the dim light I saw two horses leap the fence and dash up to the porch on the front of the house, causing the people inside to rush out to greet the riders. As I got closer to the group, I heard a man named Hershel say something along the lines of, "You both scared us to death."

"Sorry, Hershel. We got um… caught up in something."

My heart stopped at the sound of the voice that came from inside the group. Before I knew what was happening, my legs were sprinting to the porch at full speed. I fought my way through the group. My arms went numb. My legs turned to jelly. Tears streamed from my eyes. Glenn was standing in before me, his mouth gaped open.

"Glenn." The name barely came out as a whisper. I could see a shocked expression on his face. I could understand his surprise, I must have looked like a completely different person. I was much thinner than the last time he saw me, oh yea, and my hair was obviously shorter. My hand reached out for his, hoping for some recognition. He jerked away from my thin fingers that grasped for him and it felt like he was tearing my heart out of my chest. I dropped my knees, feeling the crushing blow of rejection.

"Who are you?"

Nothing in the world could have prepared me for him saying that. I wished I hadn't survived. I wished I hadn't escaped from the camp. Maybe it would have been better if I had stayed in the camp and just told Merle about me, the pain would be far less than this. I wrung my hands, trying to calm myself down, when my finger was scratched on something hard and pointy. I mentally cursed before I realized what I had scratched myself on. My ring. I tore it off my finger and stood on my wobbling feet, shoving it in his face.

His eyes focused on the little object before grabbing it from me and holding it defensively.

"Where did you get this?" His voice was angry, almost accusing. I tried to squeak out my answer, but my words wouldn't form. His face became angrier and angrier by the moment. "Where did you get this?"

"It." My voice cracked. I saw him shove the ring in his pocket and start to stalk toward the door. _Wait! Come back! _My mind screamed for him. He was half way through the door when my voice finally resurfaced.

"It's me! Glenn stop!"

The little group was completely silent. I saw him turn on his heel and rush back to me. He narrowed his eyes, searching my face before taking in a hitched breath.

"Tanner." His face softened exponentially, it carried a look of relief and concern. He pulled me next to his chest, burying his in my neck while I cried into his shoulder. I felt him pick his head up and heard feet stomping then a door closing. His arms dropped from around me, slightly pushing me body away from his. I wrapped my arms around my torso, trying to recapture his warmth. My head snapped up, my eyes widened as I looked at his face. The expression that played across it said everything. Realization swam around in my mind. The girl that stomped her way into the house, everyone's awkward silence, Glenn's hands shoved uncomfortably in his pockets. Pain coursed from the top of my head to the tips of my toenails. Glenn's mouth hung open to the side as he shifted on his feet. He sighed deeply and looked down at his dirty brown shoes.

"Tanner… I—" Those words seem to strangle in his throat, but I didn't give him time to finish. My legs obviously didn't want to listen to his explanation. In one swift motion, I turned and ran, no, sprinted, away from the huddled group. The first thing that I saw was the broken down RV and, deciding to take cover from the shit storm that was my life, ran inside before locking the door behind me. I heard Glenn yelling my name, telling me to stop and come back, but I'd be damned it I was gonna listen to him. Inside, I rushed to the back of the camper, pulled the screen that separated the bedroom from the rest of the trailer and curled myself into a tight ball on the bed. Maybe, I thought, if I could curl tight enough the agony would stop… or my insides would stop working from the amount of force and I would die.

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**Please review! I'm starting to wonder who really reads these things anyway. Give me some motivation people!**


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